Venus Might Be Hell But Researchers Are Looking For Signs Of Life In Its Skies

For decades, Venus has been considered as a toxic, overheated, crushing hellscape where nothing can survive. However, recent research suggested that there is hope for microbial life on eons aloft in Venusian vapors. The surface of Venus is usually subject to temperatures around 800 degrees Fahrenheit but there are few layers of its atmosphere which are quite nice.

Chances of life on Venus clouds

NASA has even proposed an idea of creating a kind of cloud city by sending an instrument that can hang at an altitude of around 30 miles. The conditions here are considered to be similar to those on Earth’s surface. It has also been suggested that after Earth, only Venus’ atmosphere is the most habitable place in the solar system. This is due to its pressure and temperature, which are in the range we are used to.

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However, there are a few problems as well. The surface, unlike Earth’s, has no breathable air and lots of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, hampering the functioning of respiratory systems and other vitals. Back in the year 1967, Carl Sagan speculated about life in the clouds of Venus. Then a few years ago, researchers suggested that strange patterns observed when looking at the planet which could be explained by something like an algae or a bacteria in the atmosphere.

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A recently published research by leading astronomer Sara Seager at MIT visualizes what the life cycle above Venus might be. Seager and her colleagues suggest that the microbes above Venus can only survive inside liquid droplets. However, these droplets do not stay still as they grow large enough for the gravity to take over. The paper’s summary reads, “We propose for the first time that the only way life can survive indefinitely is with a life cycle that involves microbial life drying out as liquid droplets evaporate during settling, with the small desiccated ‘spores’ halting at, and partially populating, the Venus atmosphere stagnant lower haze layer”. NASA is considering mission dubbed Veritas to study Venus and its clouds.

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(Image Credits: NASA.gov)